Commentary/ Fuzail Jafferey

From euphony to a noise

There is nothing new about the controversy over the use of microphones for giving the azaan, or the Muslims's call to prayer.

Time and again, people in different parts of India, have objected to the use of microphones for azaan. But most state governments have evaded taking a stand on the issue, not wanting to displease Muslim citizens, already hypersensitive about religious matters. A ban on using electronic methods to amplify the azaan would most definitely be interpreted as yet another attack on Islam, it is generally feared.

Yet the irony is that the first ban on the use of microphone for giving the azaan was imposed in Calcutta some time ago by the Communist Party of India-Marxist-led coalition. The party has been ruling the state of West Bengal, of which Calcutta is the capital, for nearly two decades and enjoys the massive support of the Muslim electorate.

Had a similar ban been imposed in a state like Maharashtra or Rajasthan, the government's action would have been immediately termed anti-Muslim or even anti-Islam. But the Left Front government of West Bengal cannot be termed religiously communal by any stretch of imagination.

Recent Indian history has been witness to dozens of bloody clashes between religious communities, taking a heavy loss of life and property, all on very petty issues such as beating of drums in front of a mosque or the throwing of some coloured water on a mosque's outer walls.

A little patience on the part of Muslims would have been of great help in avoiding such uncalled for bloodshed.

If the ban in Calcutta did not spark violent incidents, the credit goes to the new-found pragmatism of the city's Muslims and their ulemas (religious leaders) who have of late begun to differentiate between emotion and reason.

However, despite all the pragmatism, Calcutta's Muslims did not accept the order in complete passivity.

Twelve Muslim organisations went to the Calcutta high court, challenging state Home Minister Budhadev Bhattacharya's ban order. They pleaded that the ban on the use of loudspeakers for azaan was undemocratic and infringed the religious rights of the minority community.

After a few hearings Justice Bhagbati Prasad Banerjee upheld the ban. The judge even refused to modify the orders by allowing the use of microphones for azaans only twice a year on the occasions of the Eid festivals.

According to the newspaper reports Justice Banerjee has been, since then, provided with a police escort and a police picket has been posted at his residence.

Fortunately, no untoward incident has occurred even after two weeks of the judgement despite the subtle instigation by certain Congress leaders such as former federal minister Ajit Panja and the West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee Minority Cell chief Idris Ali.

Now how important is the azaan to Muslims.

Namaz (a strict daily five-prayer schedule) is the basic tenet of Islam and the azaan is an integral part of namaz. It is obligatory for every believer to proceed to the nearest mosque as soon as he hears the azaan.

According to the Bukhari, the most authentic compilation of the Prophet's (peace be upon him) sayings and pronouncements, "All those who hear the muezzin's cry will testify for him on the Day of Resurrection."

On another occasion the Prophet (peace be upon him) pronounced that "The hand of the All-Merciful is on the muezzin's head until he completes his call to prayers."

The greatest and most respected muezzin in the history of Islam was Hazrat Bilal, a Negro companion of the Prophet (peace be upon him). Bilal's azaan, specially for the pre-dawn prayer would send believers into ecstasy with its magical, melodious, modulated and absorbing rendition.

From 6 AD till the proliferation of electronic instruments some decades ago, muezzin's all over the Muslim world were held in high esteem. Only such people who possessed extremely sweet and vibrating voice and were specially trained for the holy job were appointed muezzins.

Their modulated voice was only loud enough to have an intimate relationship with the faithful and would engage respectability in its delivery.

Pakistani scholar S N Burney has this to say: "The call for the morning prayer from a distance, without mechanical aid, carries the mystic worlds like ocean waves, now soft, now loud, beckoning Muslims to the path of salvation, treated by their forefathers with great love and devotion."

In recent times, the basic qualities of Islam such as love for fellow beings, humility and patience have been replaced by emotional aggression and ill advised competition in almost every walk of life.

It is a sad commentary on Muslims, particularly those living on the Indian sub-continent, that while the numbers of the faithful visiting mosques has drastically fallen, the number of mosques continues to increase unabated.

If one Muslims sect has a mosque in a particular locality, other sects won't lag. The followers of one god and one Prophet (peace be upon him) insist on having separate mosques for people belonging to different creeds such as the Hanafi, the Shafai, the Humbli and the Razakhani.

Today it is possible to find at least half a dozen mosques within a half kilometre radius. Each mosque, however small, has at least three to four loudspeakers hooked to an electronic system.

The azaans, coming from different mosques at the same time, are jumbled in a cacophony and the message is lost. The mystic words are drowned in a deafening noise. Hoarse, crude sounds in the name of azaan now disturb the early morning peace of the sleeping babies, the insomniac old and the sick.

The azaan is supposed to draw people closer to god but if the muezzin does not have a sweet and modulated voice, his noise can have the exact opposite effect.

Burney has an ancient anecdote do illustrate the point. Centuries ago when Islam was still in the process of taking roots among the primitive society of Arabia, a caravan of Muslims halted near a settlement of non-believers.

At dawn, the tribal chief of the caravan took upon himself to give the azaan. Elders advised against it as they had brought with them a trained muezzin. But the chief insisted and his call reverberated through the neighbouring villages and settlements.

The caravan had hardly finished praying when they saw a dust storm closing on them from the direction of the settlement of non-believers. When it cleared, they saw a group of horsemen. One of them, who appeared to be their leader, approached the caravan and politely enquired as to who had called for the prayers.

The caravan pointed out the chief. The leader of the horsemen took out a bag, full of golden coins, and other precious gifts and offered them to the chief. Nonplussed, he asked what the occasion for the gifts was.

The leader of the non-believers answered: "My daughter, old enough to know her mind, has been insisting on converting to Islam for a very long time. We had a lot of argument but she would not listen. And then this morning our gods sent you. When she heard your call for prayers she gave up the idea of embracing Islam."

Yet another anecdote is about Sheikh Saadi, the great Sufi poet and scholar from Iran of the medieval age. Acceding to the Shaikh was a muezzin in the city of Sinjar (now Persia) whose voice was very unpleasing and annoyed the faithful. One day the chief trustee of the mosque called him and said: "To the muezzin employed before you I paid five dinars per month. I will give you ten dinars every month if you shift elsewhere."

Microphones kill the magic of the muezzin's voice. They cannot stir the souls of the believers. While the muezzin's modulated and trained voice provides divine inspiration to listeners, the blaring of loudspeakers simply irritates.

Amplifiers distort even the most melodious of voices into most dissonant notes and scare the lives out of many. Moreover, our watches and alarm clocks and over and above all the fear of god is the greatest instrument to call us to prayers.

We should not forget that religion should soften our hard lives and behaviour. Islam very clearly teaches the principles of adjustment and reconciliation. The amplifier must be replaced by a muezzin whose voice is pleasant, agreeable and trained so that he can pronounce the divine word rhythmically and with cleric correctness.

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